Going to the English National Opera with my family from the age of 12. If you booked in advance, you could buy season tickets for £5 each, in the front row of the upper circle. It was during the 1980s and 90s – the ENO's "powerhouse years". The visual worlds were beyond anything I'd ever seen.

What was your big breakthrough?

I've had a whole series. The first was winning the Linbury prize for stage design in 1995 – that got me a job, which is already a big deal for a set designer. Then Trevor Nunn invited me to design at the National theatre in 1998. And designing Kanye West's 2005 tour took me to another level.

Where do you find inspiration?

Everywhere: in words as much as images. I came across a TED talk recently by [author] Matt Ridley called "When ideas have sex". He talks about the fact that when you think you're having an idea, what you're really doing is finding the last jigsaw piece.

You've worked as creative director for several pop acts. What does that involve?

With Kanye West, I say, "Let's do this," and he usually goes, "Great, let's do it" – but he is the true director. With Pet Shop Boys, I present them with a very clear vision. But what's common to all my work is sitting down with a blank piece of paper and having an idea. Everything starts with a brain and a pencil.

How have new technologies changed theatre design?

The internet has changed our research processes beyond recognition. Not long ago, I'd give my assistants £50 and say, "Go to all the libraries and bookshops in London – I need a picture of a 1964 red Pontiac car." Now, I can just do a Google image search.

I've had plenty of evil reviews. Recently, there were lots of glowing reviews for the Pet Shop Boys tour, and then I saw someone's tweet, which said: "Great set list – terrible set, as usual, from Es Devlin." The moral of the story is not to put your own name into a Twitter search.

Is there anything about your career you regret?

Some palm-tree shaped gobos – little pieces of foil you put on a lights – in an opera about Colonel Gaddafi. At the time, because they were provided by Wolfgang Goebbel, an incredibly tasteful avant-garde lighting designer, I thought they were ironic. Now, I suspect they were just awful.

What's your greatest ambition?

To refine the art of seeking a balance: between opera and pop; between big projects and small children.